By CHRIS BRANAM
Staff Writer
LANCASTER - After a weekend when it was miserable to be a Lancaster JetHawk, Greg Wooten stepped into the role of stopper.
Wooten was not totally sharp, but he was able to help the JetHawks end their two-game losing streak, beating Rancho Cucamonga 4-3 in front of 3,819 at The Hangar on Monday night.
The JetHawks (24-27) beat the Quakes in the teams' first meeting since June 21. The Quakes (22-29) won the first-half Southern Division title, two games ahead of the second-place JetHawks.
Wooten (5-3) has been a streakbuster since he arrived from Wisconsin after the All-Star break. He stopped a three-game JetHawks losing streak in June and a fourgame losing streak in July.
"We needed a big start," said JetHawks manager Dave Brundage. "(Wooten) is very deceptive in the way he pitches. He's very sneaky. They weren't catching up to his sinker."
He had help from his bullpen and an eighth-inning RBI single by Shane Monahan that gave the JetHawks a two-run lead.
Tom Szimanski pitched a scoreless seventh and, despite giving up a run in the eighth, the rejuvenated John Thompson closed out the game and earned his 11th save.
"It's nice to see them come back after taking a shellacking," Brundage said about his team, which had given 27 runs in its last two games. "These guys aren't ready to rollover."
The Quakes took a 1-0 lead in the first, marking the third game in a row a JetHawks opponent has scored in the first on this homestand.
Lancaster pitchers had problems in the first inning in the last 13 games, allowing 14 runs.
Wooten walked Vince Moore with two outs to start the Quakes rally.
Moore went to third on Dusty Allen's single to right field and scored on Wooten's fifth wild pitch as a JetHawk.
The JetHawks started quickly, taking a 2-1 lead in the first on Jesus Marquez's 18th homer of the season.
Rancho Cucamonga starter Keith Davis, who came into the game with an 18.00 ERA in the month of August, gave up a leadoff single to Shane Monahan.
After Jason Cook grounded out, Marquez hit a 2-2 pitch from Davis over the scoreboard in right field. It was the third homer in the last seven games for Marquez, who has a hit in 10 of his last 12 games.
Davis, a 23-year-old righthander from Louisiana, settled down over the next four innings. He gave up two hits - Dusty Wathan's single in the second and Cook's single in the third.
While Davis was quieting down the Lancaster bats, the Quakes forced a 2-2 tie on smart baserunning in the fifth.
Gary Matthews Jr. singled to lead off against Wooten and went to second on a walk.
With two outs, Juan Melo hit a sharp grounder to the left of Lancaster shortstop Mike Lanza. Matthews shielded Lanza from the ball, though, and Lanza was only able to make a stab at the ball as it went into center field.
Matthews scored, tying the game.
Despite giving up just two runs on five hits, Wooten threw 118 pitches in six innings. He struck out five and walked four.
The JetHawks gave him a lead in the sixth on Carlos Villalobos' single to right that scored Scott Smith.
Monahan's RBI single in the seventh was lined past a drawn-in Rancho Cucamonga infield and scored Mike Lanza, who tripled down the left field line to open the inning.
Davis left after walking Cook. He gave up eight hits, walked four and struck out three. In his last two outings, he's given up 19 hits and 16 earned runs in 11 innings.